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After finally getting through to his mother about her meddling and her agreeing to watch what she says, Carl decides to leave before Mandy joins them at the table. He needed to get home and see his wife. He needed to know she was okay. As he walked into the house, he could feel the heavy weight of sadness and disappointment in the air as tangible as the now silent cell phone in his pocket. He slowly trudged up the stairs to their room. He opened the door; it was dark and silent. He flipped on the light to see the bed empty. His stomach dropped to his feet and his heart began to race. "Karen?!" he called out. "Karen, where are you?" Silence. He went to the master bathroom door and slowly opened it. There she sat on the floor, sobbing. It tore his heart out. "I talked to Mother", he quietly said to her. "She promised to back off." "It just doesn't matter anymore," she sobbed. He gently lifted her chin, looked into her eyes and said, "I love you and you matter to me more than anything in the world. Whether I go to this reunion or not, know that and nothing else." She smiled and everything else faded away. They both knew that everything would be better from that point on and nothing would get between them again.